Agona Swedru, Nov 12, GNA - A total of 3,070 establishments in the Accra Area comprising Agona Swedru, Breman Asikuma, Weija and other places owe the Social Security and National Trust (SNNIT) 100 billion cedis.

Mr Theodore Ohene, Area Manager, stated this at a workshop organized by the Trust for employers at Agona Swedru in the Central Region. He said the defaulters would pay 5.4 million Ghana cedis as penalty on the amount, adding that from January to September this year 652 establishments had been prosecuted for the non-payment of the contributions of their workers. The workshop was under the theme" Building and maintaining quality data on members- the role of the employer" Mr Ohene said some of the cases were pending at courts, adding that, SNNIT would assist establishments that were facing difficulties in the payment of the contributions with genuine reasons. He said SNNIT had decided to start publishing names and court proceedings of the defaulters in the national newspapers to serve as a deterrent to others.

The Area manager noted that SNNIT had put in place measures to retrieve huge sums of money owed by the employers to sustain and enable the scheme to render quality services to its clients. Nana Ama Serwah Adusei, Swedru Manager of SNNIT said the scheme recognised the employer as a partner to make the Ghanaian worker satisfied with the services of SNNIT after retirement. She noted that if the Ghanaian worker was content because of the hope being guaranteed by the employer it would enhance productivity, build confidence and trust and deepen the relationship. Nana Adusei noted that when the employer discharged his or her obligations by making available reliable and quality data to the Trust, SSNIT would be able to generate complete, accurate and acceptable statement of accounts for members. The Swedru Manager said if this were done it would ultimately address problems that emerged at the point of processing benefits and claims.